I was laid off last year. It felt like betrayal, it was hard to see it as a rational business decision and not take it personally - I shared a job title with 5

I was laid off last year. It felt like betrayal, it was hard to see it as a rational business decision and not take it personally - I shared a job title with 5 other employees, one of whom was hired less than a year ago - and I was the only one laid off. It was a good reminder, ultimately, not to get complacent - I wasn’t worrying too much about money because I was making plenty of it. I was coasting when I didn’t have any business doing so. I should have been grinding. It took me a couple months to overcome the emotional / psychological stuff - months wasted, when I should have been aggressively applying for every social service and hardship accommodation I could get my hands on, even ones I wasn’t sure I qualified for. I should have done that the first week. I also should have immediately taken anything to start working again, while continuing to look for a more ideal position - instead of starting out with high standards and then slowly lowering them as time passed. I should have started trawling for freelance work that same week, instead of waiting months. That’s most of the lesson I think - don’t get complacent, and when you do get laid off, hit the ground running. It takes a lot of work to get secure and comfortable again, and the longer you put it off the longer it’ll be til you’re square.